London Irish seem set to announce the signing of the disgraced James O'Connor at a press conference at their Sunbury headquarters.

Speculation over links with the club had been in the air for a few days and grew with a media release from the club saying "a significant player signing will be announced" on Tuesday.

"He's a world-class player, he's a terrific kid and I'm sure that will all be unveiled at the front end of this week," director of rugby Brian Smith said when asked about the possible move on Sunday. "Any team in England or in France would be lucky to have him. I would imagine in the next 24 or 48 hours he will play his cards and all will be revealed."

O'Connor announced he had taken the option of looking to play in the northern hemisphere in a bid to get back into Ewen McKenzie's Wallabies squad. O'Connor, one of the sport's top talents, was dumped from the national team in September and had his contract torn up by the Australian Rugby Union earlier this month for repeated discipline breaches.

O'Connor, who has played 44 Tests, admitted this month that he "needs to earn back a lot of respect". He said last week he was in talks with several English clubs about a move "for a few months", but was eyeing a return to Western Force in the future. O'Connor said his management was continuing discussions with the Western Force about a future deal but that seems to have hit the rocks.

London bound for a few months to play some rugby, can't wait.. see you soon Aus! Thanks for all the… http://t.co/BQSXAVyutp